The present invention relates to a method of producing high purity aluminum-lithium mother alloys and more particularly to a method of producing aluminum-lithium mother alloys which substantially do not contain alkali metals such as sodium, potassium, etc., other than lithium.
Aluminum-lithium mother alloys have been heretofore produced by the method involving the following two basic steps.
(1) electrolytic production of lithium metal; and
(2) melting and casting
In step (1), metallic lithium is produced by electrolysis of a molten salt mixture consisting of lithium chloride and potassium chloride. In step (2), the metallic lithium produced in the step (1) is added, in an amount needed to produce the aimed mother alloy composition, to aluminum and melted together with obtain cast ingots of the mother alloys.
As the high purity aluminum-lithium mother alloys suitable for use in practical applications, it is requested that they contain lithium in an amount of 10 wt. % or more, and avoid the contamination of sodium exceeding 5 ppm.
At the present time, commercially available electrolytic lithium with a high purity of 99.9% contains approximately 200 ppm sodium and thus it is impossible to produce high purity aluminum-lithium mother alloys using such lithium. Further, in order to produce superhigh purity electrolytic lithium with sodium not exceeding 50 ppm, an additional purification process of lithium salts or metallic lithium is necessary. On the other hand, when the purification is carried out by means of molten metal treatment using chlorine gas, serious loss of lithium is unavoidably occurs in significant quantities. Further, current efficiencies in the electrolysis of lithium in the conventional methods are relatively low, as for example 70 to 90% at most.
Further, in the conventional methods of producing aluminum-lithium mother alloys, remelting of the electrolytic lithium with aluminum is indispensable in the foregoing step (2). In addition, in this remelting process, lithium is liable to deteriorate due to its extremely high activity. In order to prevent the unfavorable deterioration, the remelting must be carried out under a controlled atmosphere of inert gas. Further, lithium tends to cause an unfavorable segregation in the course of solidification because of its low melting point and density. Therefore, it is very difficult to produce constantly the mother alloys with stable desired compositions in the conventional methods.